Eh. I'll be picky too!

Yeah, it's not really that big a deal, but what bugs me about it is that it would be so easy to do something else-- it's not like you're really saving a lot of money or time by using other symbols than the zodiac.

It doesn't drive me crazy, but it is a bit annoying.

Eh, I can overlook it. All the other things they've gotten wrong, using Earth stars for Narnia is a minor thing.

I do feel I've been overly picky by pointing this out. The ship still looks fantastic IMO. I hope the film is as good as the Dawn Treader looks.

Fair Faun: I am also rather picky when it comes to details.....
I see what you mean by the Narnian zodiac and our zodiac! I wish they had put Narnian stars on the Dawn Treaders wheel.....but they can't htink of everything!

That's an interesting catch! On the one hand I think it's rather odd to use the Greek zodiac rather than the Narnian one, but on the other hand, it's neat to see such attention to detail to the sets!

(In a topic more appropriate for the Talk About Narnia section, the books have very little to say about Narnian constellations - and if the Narnian world is indeed flat, how would the zodiac work there? )

I never knew the Narnian world was flat. I thought the Narnians just assumed it was flat in the same way the people of earth once thought the earth was flat.

I can definitely see your point and I do agree with you. However, the use of the zodiac doesn't bother me as a design element on the helm of the ship. I say this only because it's a detail that I probably won't notice when watching the film (I doubt there will be any shots that are up close and personal that are just of the helm). I guess now I'll know the zodiac detail is there, but it's definitely not my focus. However, it is good to know that such detail and consideration is taken into account when the look and feel of VDT is (or was I suppose at this point) designed.

You could also justify the Earth zodiac by saying it's just a design the Telmarines brought from Earth and kept using, even after they'd forgotten about Earth.

You could also justify the Earth zodiac by saying it's just a design the Telmarines brought from Earth and kept using, even after they'd forgotten about Earth.

That's a good point Bookwyrm and one I didn't consider.

I'm sure they had a reason for the Earthly constellations, whatever it was.
(Earthly constellations: now there's an oxymoron.) I'm still impressed by the yarrow on Lucy's cordial bottle. If they went to such lengths of detail that they researched Earthly flowers that were thought to have healing properties, then they've earned my trust.

I like the idea that this comes from the Telmarines keeping 'our' zodiacal constellations after going to Narnia...especially since Caspian traces his line through them.

And I like the irony that this decorates a sailing vessel, even though the Telmarines, though descended from Earthly pirates, seem to have a dislike of nature by Caspian's time.

In fact, it's possible that by then most of them weren't even mariners anymore. In PC chapter 15, there's this comment:

[the Telmarine soldiers] made a great fuss about wading the river, for they all hated and feared running water just as much as they hated and feared woods and animals.

I think if they don't like wading a river they're not going to voluntarily sail to the end of the world. Though this certainly doesn't apply to all of them, as Caspian becomes known as the Seafarer and the missing Lord Rhoop identifies himself as a Temarine.

But I digress. I do like that so much attention is being given to details of the ship for this movie.

Dr Cornelius tells Caspian - when he's just told him to leave Miraz' castle because he will be in danger there - that Miraz has removed all the lords who might have supported the young Prince.

And finally he persuaded the seven noble lords, who alone among all the Telmarines did not fear the sea, to sail away and look for new lands beyond the Eastern Ocean, and, as he intended, they never came back.

(my emphasis)

Edit:
Of course, in the next book Caspian sails out to find out what became of them, and some of them will come back eventually.

Fair Faun I'm glad you picked up on something so extraordinary as that! It's really going to make me think for a while. But I also have to agree with Stargazer.

I feel almost guilty for my (constructive?) criticism of the zodiac on Dawn Treader's helm when, it appears, so much detail has been added to her construction.